Carriage for hoisting-machines



(No Model.)

- A.. ELBROWN.

CARRIAGE FOR HOISTING MACHINES.

No. 368,065. Patented Aug. 9, 1887.

9 nz/e 50 r flax 273mm y Jae UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXANDER'E. snows, or CLEVELAND, OHIO.

CARRIAGE FOR HOlSTlNG-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 368,065, dated August 9, 1887.

(No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER E. BROWN, of Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Carriages of Hoisting and Conveying Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a, full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings; making part of this application.

My invention relates to what is known as the carriage, or traveling machine, or trolley, of what are known as hoisting and conveying machines; and it consists in certain novel features of construction, which will be hereinafter fully explained, and which will be particularly pointed out and defined in the claims of this specification.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my improvements relate to make and use mar chines or carriages embracing the features of I my invention, I will now proceed to more fully describe the latter, referring by letters of ref erence to the accompanying drawings, which. form a part of this specification, and in which I have shown my invention carried out in that form in which I have so far successfully practiced it, and which is the best now known to In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of a machine constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is an end or edge view of the same. Fig. 3 is a partial back elevation.

In the several figures the same part. will be found designated by the same letter of reference.

A represents the track beam or stringer of a rigid elevated tramway, (part of which I have shown only at Figs. 1 and 3,) and B is the rail or track of the same, on which is supported and travels in the usual manner the machine by meansof track-wheels G, the axles or shafts of which are mounted to turn in suitable bearings formed in the upper ends of the depending framepieces D of the carriage.-

-These framepieces are composed of pairs of channel-irons or flange-irons, which are securely bolted or riveted to the main plates E of the carriage, and they serve, as will be presently explained, for the purpose of not only giving great strength and rigidity to the en its axis an anti-friction roller, (1, which bears and travels against one of the vertical sides of the track-beam A, to avoid any friction which might arise from the said f rame-pieces rubbing against the said beam.

Immediately below the bottom of the trackbeam A. is 1ocated,at thelocality of each of the frame'pieces D, a roller or idler, c, that is mounted to turn freely on a stud or spindle, which is secured at its ends to the middleportion ofthe descending leg of the frame-piece and to the upper end of the ascending leg of said frame-piece, all as clearly shown in the drawings,thepurpose of said idlers 0 being to come against the lower edge of the beam A, and thus prevent any derailment of the carriage or machine in the event of the trackwheels G passing suddenly over any obstruc tion on the rail B, that otherwise might tend to lift the wheels and throw the machine from the track.

F are thejonrnal-boxes, and m thejournals by which is supported each of the revolving rope-wheels J, said wheels being made fast on said journals. 4

G are clamping devices pivoted to the upper ends of the ascending legs of the frame-pieoes D, and which serve thepurpose of clamping the machine in a manner to be presently explained to the machine pulling or traversing cable H.

I is the ascending and descending sheaveblock from which the bucket or other receptacle for the load is to be suspended in the wellknown manner, and the axle of which, or the hubs in which the axle runs, is supposed to be held up or supported when at rest by a suitable retaining-hook, (not shown), and when being raised and lowered by the usual hoist-rope, i, all in a manner familiar to those'understanding the use of hoisting and conveying machines. The axles or spindleseof the trackwheels 0 are, as shown, of a peculiar construction, having two separate and distinct bearing surfaces at either end of different diameters, whereby less injurious effect results from any wearing of the bearing-surfaces. This peculiarity of construction,constituting the subject of a claim in another case, need not be particularly explained in this application.

In a machine of the type shown and dcseribed, and which depends from the trackwheels, as shown, at one side of the track-beam A, and as'its lower main portion,in which are mounted the hoist-rope sheaves, projects laterally and is located immediately below the track-beam, the tendency of the pull or strain on the hoist'rope i is to warp or bend the main body portion or plates E, and therefore to give great rigidity to such a structure. To overcome such strain without unnecessarily increasing the weight of the machine is a great desideratum. I have gained this desirable object in the structure shown by the use,in combination with the plate-like portions E of the machine, of the channel-iron frame-pieces D, which, by reason ofthe said channel-irons,possess great strength and rigidity in the requisite direction, and are at the same time comparativel y light.

By the use of the frame-pieces D, made as shown, I am also enabled to provide for the securement to said framepieees, and between the flanges of the channel-irons composing them, of comparatively longjournal-boxes for both the axles of the truck-wheels C and the spindles of the hoist-rope wheels J, thus renderingitpossible to provide all ofthese wheels, which are made fast on their axles, with journals of comparatively great length, and which will therefore wear much longer, and in the case of the traelowheels will much better stand the strain to which they are subjected.

The pivoted clamps G, which are arranged to have a limited extent of motion on their pivots f, and which are securely held in a clamped position by draw bolts and nuts 9, have their clamping-surfaces provided, preferably, with a facing of some material softer than metal, but comparatively tough and durable, and on the opposite surfaces of one of the plate-like portions E are secured pads or blocks h, of suitable material, and between said pads and said clamped facings is gripped and held securely the pull or traverse rope H.

By the useof clamping device, such as shown at G, arranged and operating as described, I am enabled, by simply manipulating the drawbolts 9, to release and reclamp the machine to the rope or cable H at pleasure for the purpose of setting the machine to work at any given point or locality or run in the line of the tramway, or, in other words, relatively to the places over which the machines are designed to travel. This capacity to set the machine readily and securely fasten it for work at different localities is of considerable importance, especially where the machines are used in connection with hoisting and conveying apparatuses in which a series of machines are kept working back and forth with rela tively short paths of motion-11s, for instance, in doing such work as making ditches, building sewers, &c.

Of course more or less modification may be made in some or all of the precise details of construction shown, and the parts made of different sizes and proportions, without changing the principle of construction and mode of operation of my improved machine, and without departing from my invention.

Having now so fully explained the general construction and pointed out the particularities of structure in which my machine differs from those before me, what I claiin therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. In a trolley, the combination, with the metallic main body portion or plate-like part E, of the frame-pieces D, for supporting the j onrnal-boxes of both the track-wheels and the hoist-rope wheel, each of which frame-pieces is composed of a channel-iron, and all ofwhich' projecting axles of said track-wheels, of com paratively longjournal-boxes and frame-pieces D, composed, as specified, ofchannel-irons,and having the said journal-boxes permanently secured between the flanges of said channelirons, all substantially in the manner and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

3. In combination with the ascending portions or legs of the channel-iron frame-pieces D and the opposing surfaces of the plate-like parts E of the machine, clamping devices G, arranged and operating as shown and described, to removabl y secure the trolley or machine to the traversing-rope II of a hoisting and conveying machine, as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 31st day of August, 1886.

ALEXANDER E. BROVN.

In presence of- E. T. ScovILL, CHAS. W. KELLY. 

